ProJo: Providence planning board rejects 46-story Fane tower

The proposal now goes before the City Council. The City Plan Commission’s role was to advise the council, which has the discretion to change the zoning of the parcel from its present 100-foot height limit to allow building heights of up to 600 feet on the former Route 195 land known as parcel 42.

The city’s planning staff, in a report to the commission, had suggested that commission members “advise the City Council that the proposed zoning change is consistent with the Comprehensive Plan and the Zoning Ordinance,” but added that approval should be subject to several conditions, including one that would require that 15 percent of the units at the tower be affordable.

Other conditions included that no public park land be taken for the tower site, and that only the northern half of the parcel, where the tower would be built, and not the southern half, be subject to the zone change. Another staff-proposed condition was that the zoning would revert to the 100-foot limit if no development occurred on the parcel within two years after the change.